Basketball and State Flowers
by Tarafina
Summary: Maybe keeping it all secret hadn't been the best approach. Everything comes out eventually. :FM Radio:


**Title**: Basketball and State Flowers  
**Category**: CSI: NY  
**Rating**: K+  
**Genre**: Drama/Romance  
**Pairing**: Don Flack/Lindsay Monroe  
**Prompt**: Tattoo  
**Word Count**: 722  
**Summary**: Maybe keeping it all secret hadn't been the best approach. Everything comes out eventually.

**_Basketball and State Flowers  
_**-1/1-

The game was 12-11 and Don wasn't about to walk away a loser tonight. But he only had five minutes left and defense was a bitch. Danny was never a pushover but after a long shift, he looked ready to pack it in already, which didn't bode well for Don's team. Lifting his hands into a "T" he called time out and brought his boys in. Eagerly, they guzzled back their water and took the time to gather their breath.

"We got five and I don't want Joshy-boy walkin' home with a grin, you guys get me?" Don lifted a brow at them.

"Whaddya mean five minutes? It's only four-thirty!" Danny said, tightening his shoelaces.

"Yeah and I gotta be outta here at four-thirty-five." Don shrugged. "So let's win this and pack 'er up, all right?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not complainin' cause I'm beat, but uh why didn't I hear anything about this thing you got after the game? Usually we stop by O'Malley's for a drink." He shook his head questioningly.

"Yeah, well, you and the others can hit up Malley's. I got plans."

Danny smirked suggestively. "With mystery girl?" Reaching out, he slapped Don's chest playfully. "When we gonna meet her anyway?"

Smiling good-naturedly, Don lifted his brows. "If I'm not back in time, never."

"Ah, she's one of them, eh?" Danny nodded knowingly.

"No... We just got plans I can't break." He took a swig of his water, shrugging. "We got dinner reservations and..." He lifted his jersey off himself and made a face. "No way in hell I'm goin' smellin' like this."

Danny cut himself off mid-laugh before his eyes narrowed, brows furrowing. "Eh, uh, what's that?"

Don shook his head. "What's what?"

Danny walked closer. "You got some ink I don't know about?"

"What?" Don laughed it off, stepping away from him. "No."

"What's the big deal, Flack? You get somethin' embarrassing, uh? You got a unicorn an' rainbows under there or what?"

Rolling his eyes, Don tugged the underarm of his jersey out of the way to show two flowers intricately twined together over his left pectoral; a purplish-pink bitterroot and a red rose were drawn to perfection. "We done now? Can we play?"

Danny stared a second longer, even after Don readjusted his jersey. "Bitterroot... You know that's the state flower of Montana."

Don looked over to him, his expression becoming seriously. "Yeah?" He nodded slowly.

"So this mystery girl..." Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "I know her?"

Don licked his lips. "Yeah. Really well."

Danny nodded before motioning to the tattoo he'd spotted. "And the, uh, flowers there... New York and Montana... Clever."

He cleared his throat.

"So this dinner tonight... Real special?"

Don ran a hand over his face. "Anniversary."

Danny's brows rose. "Really? You actually stuck with her, huh?"

"You wanna take this in that direction?" Don's hands fell to his hips, face darkening. "'Cause if we're gonna talk relationship screw-ups, you're not exactly a prince here, Messer."

"I'm not takin' this in any direction..." He shook his head. "I got no say, right?" He shrugged, looking away. "You better go though. You're late. Got a big anniversary date with your one and only, right?"

Don stared at him levelly before he nodded. "Yeah. I do."

Without another word, he turned and walked away. He didn't know what might come out of it all. Danny was one of his best friend's but Lindsay was his everything. And keeping it all secret might not have been the best approach but in their line of work, precautions had to be taken and they had to be sure that what they were doing was worth it. Because there were people who could be hurt, people who would have questions and work had to be notified. So they wanted to give it a chance away from all that. Which is why, tonight, at their one year anniversary, he was going to bring up the idea of them finally coming out. And it looked like at least one of those people who _needed _to know, just found out. Not in the best way but maybe now wasn't the time for letting anybody down easy. He wasn't going to sacrifice his relationship with Lindsay for anything and he hoped Danny, of all people, knew that.


End file.
